Biotech firm's investors listened to customers, changed
the business and increased value
By Kathleen
Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel
Shortly after Tom Shannon invested in and began running Prodesse Inc., he
realized no one wanted to buy the Waukesha biotech company's labor-intensive flu
tests.
Instead of abandoning Prodesse, Shannon decided to take it in a new
direction.
The fruits of that decision were apparent this week when San-Diego-based
Gen-Probe Inc. said it would acquire privately held Prodesse for $60 million.
That price could rise as high as $85 million if certain milestones are met in
2010 and 2011.
"Prodesse is a great success story for the state because it beat all the big
companies by being first to market with a highly accurate, molecular diagnostic
flu test," said Kevin Conroy, president and chief executive officer of
Madison-based Exact Sciences Corp. and a Prodesse director.
Full story.